Polymorphisms of the Fyn kinase gene and a performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in schizophrenia

The glutamatergic system has been implicated in the pathogenesis and prefrontal cortex dysfunctions in schizophrenia. The Src-family tyrosine kinase Fyn plays a key role in the interaction between brain-derived neurotrophic factor and glutamatergic receptor N-methyl-D-aspartate, in prefrontal cortex. We estimated an association between three polymorphisms of Fyn gene and performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, measuring prefrontal cortex functions, in 188 schizophrenic patients. Patients with T/T genotype of IVS10+T/C polymorphism and T/T genotype of Ex12+894T/G polymorphism made significantly less perseverative errors in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test compared with patients with remaining genotypes, and obtained numerically better results in other Wisconsin Card Sorting Test domains. No significant differences in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance were found as to -93 A/G polymorphism. The main finding of the study is showing a relationship between polymorphisms of the Fyn gene, related to the function of glutamatergic system, and a performance on neuropsychological test of prefrontal cortex activity in schizophrenic patients.